Saturday Reading Roundup

I’m curled up on my couch, a little more than 24 hours after arriving home from vacation. My family is asleep, and I am relishing the quiet. In the time we have been home, I have washed all of our laundry, cleaning ocean water and sand out of bathing suits and putting away shorts and t-shirts to await the day when all of the snow outside my window melts.

Vacation is a funny beast, isn’t it? Often, it requires a great deal of preparation and planning, and it is fueled by anticipation. It feels like forever until the vacation starts and then—bam!—it’s over. We get to relive the time away in the telling of stories to friends and family and in the sharing of photos (more than 625 from our trip this week!). But, still, it ends all too soon.

The other part about vacation re-entry is the catch-up: the pile of mail, the email, and, in this 21st century online world, the blog posts and Internet must-reads. I’ve been enjoying that last one, finding some good pieces to share with you in today’s roundup.

1 || “Compassion is not always easy and not always without pain. It is work that requires patience and there is no guaranteed reward.” via Up Popped a Fox

2 || “You’re always pretty,” my daughter replied, thoughtfully, as I’d taught her, “we’re always pretty.” via A Half Baked Life

3 || “I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written.” via Oliver Sacks

#thewiz #roundup

Photo courtesy of The Strand Theatre

4 || “And there it is. Possibility and the promise of more still hiding in the shadows.” via This-Here-Now

5 || “I didn’t know myself but I knew the palette from which I was painted, pliable mounds of acrylic in varying shades of sunshine. As a mother I want to be the color rainbow, yes it’s one color, just ask my 6 year old.” via It’s me, Kelli

6 || “I still cry over the ending. But … I would do it again. I loved him so much, and he loved me, too. And so, I was lucky in so many ways.” – NPR

7 || “Being a mom is hard…and sometimes beyond terrifying.” via Next Life No Kids

8 || “The winter, especially a winter like this one, takes its toll on everyone in different ways and to different degrees. You may not see the impact on family caregivers, but it’s real.” – Hello Ladies

9 || “Why it is so difficult to dispel rumors and debunk myths?” – Harvard Business Review

10 || And, for some “pretty” reading: the best cannoli cake (yum!), DIY art (wanna give it a try?), and the cute puppy in this picture! His name is Dusty, and he plays Toto in the Fiddlehead Theatre’s production of “The Wiz” at the Strand Theatre in Boston. I’m taking my son (it’s a surprise!) to the show tomorrow and to meet Dusty afterward. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we don’t get any more snow here in Boston, so we can make the show!

Happy Weekend!